Recipe: Fermented Orange Peel

This recipe allows you to make full use of the orange peel and enjoy the flavour well beyond the end of the season. As a condiment, orange peel paste adds a fruity note to dishes. Recipe by Inés Lauber from Studio Inés Lauber

Ingredients:

• Orange peels from approx. 10 organic oranges
• 2-3 percent salt solution, i.e. 20-30 g salt dissolved in 1 litre of cold water
• Preserving jars with a screw lid (200-300 g)

Preparation:

1. Sterilise the jars. To do so, boil them in hot water in a large pot for 10 minutes. Do not remove the jars and lids with your hands, instead use a pair of tongs and place them on a spread-out tea towel.
2. Wash the orange peels and clear away any remaining fruit pulp.
3. Put the peels and salt water in a high-powered blender. First add 0.5 litres of water. Then gradually add more water until a viscous paste forms.
4. Pour the orange peel paste into the sterilised jars.
5. Cover the jar with another table spoon of salt solution and weigh down with a small weight that fits into the jar while covering as much of the surface as possible (leaving a couple of millimetres of space all around for air exchange). Leave to rest at room temperature – without the lid, but with the weight – for 2-3 weeks.
6. Then seal with the screw lid and keep in the refrigerator.
7. White deposits may form on the surface after a while. This is no problem. Simply remove any such deposits.